06 Aug 2018

Hey friends! Hope you had a wonderful summer weekend with your friends & fam. I love summer CLE weekends but honestly by the time I sit down and prep for the week ahead…I am beat.

We went to see the Tribe play on Friday night which consisted of us hanging out in the Kids Clubhouse area for most of the game. Parents, if you’ve never been to the Kids Clubhouse it is a BLAST for the little ones and a good escape for us parents too…LOVE the air conditioning, the phone charging stations and the mini, kid-friendly restrooms for the littles! On Saturday we went to the West Side Market for some grilling food, had some friends over to the pool and then went to see Carlos Jones perform at Shaker Square. Sunday we celebrated a friends birthday, played some pinball, explored a bit of contemporary art of Front Triennial at the Weltzheimer/Johnson House in Oberlin and then topped off the weekend by visiting our Oberlin friends. Another fun-filled CLE weekend for sure!

Have you been to Crocker Park recently? Seen the newest dining destination, Cantina Laredo? OMG, it’s really great. We went for lunch last week and we were truly blown away by everything from the decor, to the service and most of all the food and drinks.

I started lunch with a “Cabo Flip” which is a fresh lime margarita with Cabo Wabo Reposado and Grand Marnier Liqueur with a lime boat full of tequila. Then we had homemade, table-side guacamole and freshly-made, warm tortilla chips. We had a handful of apps including these incredible, individual nachos where each nacho is made up of every ingredient so you get every nacho ingredient in each bite; so good. We also had these mini tuna tacos which honestly would make a perfect quick lunch all by themselves.

For the main lunch entree, we had Cameron Poblano Asada which was shrimp, mushroom, jack cheese stuffed poblano pepper wrapped with a fire-charred skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, charred street corn and cilantro lime rice. This was a great sharing-entree and totally over-the-top but also so, so decadent.

To wrap it all up, we had Mexican Apple Pie which was served to our table bubbling with brandy butter and cinnamon ice cream…DECADENT!

I know I told you a bunch about the food…but the interiors are very chic as well. Lots of patterned tiles, painted blocks, modern-nuevo upholstery and lots of great outdoor light flooding inside the space. Plus, they had an awesome patio which is the perfect Crocker escape at lunchtime, happy hour or after a summer blockbuster at the movie theatre. This modern Mexican restaurant has a handful of locations in Florida and down south but they are slowly making their way up North and I am happy they have come to our neighborhood. Welcome you guys!

So…the moral of this story is…if you find yourself out at Crocker Park and want to try out something that is really yummy check out the new Cantina Laredo.

Have a great week, talk more soon. Happy new, modern Mexican to all! Cheers Cleveland.